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ARV manages water across Victoria’s alpine resorts in accordance with the Safe Drinking Water Act 2003. This ensures that any resort supplying potable water meets required treatment, monitoring and reporting standards. This includes:
- protecting local catchments, treating water through approved filtration and disinfection processes
- maintaining compliant wastewater and recycled water systems where applicable.
At resorts without potable supply, we provides guidance to visitors and operators on water access and self provision.
Falls Creek
At Falls Creek, ARV protects the waterways to maintain excellent water quality. The resort’s waterways support a variety of invertebrate species that prefer cool, clean, flowing water.
Warmer or nutrient‑rich still water generally supports only more tolerant species. Because of this, we use invertebrate communities as indicators of waterway condition.
We undertake seasonal monitoring downstream of the village, assessing:
- invertebrate types
- turbidity
- flow
- stream width
- nutrient levels.
Potential pollution sources, such as releases from the wastewater treatment plant and stormwater runoff, are evaluated by comparing expected invertebrate populations with those observed in collected samples.
Learn more about types of water bugs:
Lake Mountain
Due to its off-grid status, Lake Mountain does not store or produce any drinking water on the mountain.
Visitors must bring their own bottled water or buy water from the café or bistro.
Mt Baw Baw
Mt Baw Baw’s drinking water is sourced from the Dam Valley catchment, a protected valley located above the village. Water comes from rainfall runoff and snowmelt, which naturally filters through sphagnum moss before being collected.
The water is treated on mountain using a modern containerised water treatment plant. Drinking water is regularly monitored and sampled to ensure compliance with public health regulations.
Mt Buller
Mt Buller’s drinking water is sourced from a protected mountain catchment and treated onsite using UV disinfection to meet Australian drinking water standards.
ARV oversees the full process of water capture, testing and treatment for the village supply.
Recycled water
The resort has also trialled recycled water use for snowmaking, becoming the first alpine resort globally to produce Class A recycled water, treated through a stringent disinfection process and capable of supplying up to 2 million litres per day.
Although the system has not operated since 2019 due to cost effectiveness considerations, it improved runoff quality and was monitored continuously to maintain consistent Class A standards. The project received recognition from the United Nations Association of Australia.
Boggy Creek Reservoir
Mt Buller’s 100 megalitre Boggy Creek Reservoir, completed in 2020, provides additional water storage to support:
- snowmaking
- summer firefighting
- the year round drinking water supply
- watering of alpine bogs.
Construction incorporated environmental measures such as minimising site disturbance and replanting with native species, including plants propagated in partnership with a specialist nursery.
The reservoir is located at the former Boggy Creek Tbar site and was named with input from the local community.
Mt Hotham
Mt Hotham supplies its own high‑quality drinking water sourced from the protected Upper Swindlers Creek catchment (177 hectares), an area of high ecological value.
The water system meets the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act 2003, with performance reported annually through the ARV Drinking Water Annual Report.
Visitors and property owners are encouraged to be water wise and help protect the catchment environment. Simple actions include flushing taps if buildings have been unused and isolating water supply during extended vacancies to prevent freezing.
The resort also manages all wastewater treatment onsite. The main wastewater treatment plant uses biological activated sludge processes, supported by a Class A recycled water treatment plant that further treats effluent to Class A standard and is licensed by the Victorian EPA.
Mt Hotham also regulates a small number of onsite systems (such as septic tanks) across the resort. Guests and operators can help maintain system performance by keeping fats, wipes, sanitary items, chemicals and other unsuitable materials out of the sewer system.
Protecting the drinking water catchment
The drinking water catchment is a protected environmental area. Visitors may enjoy the area but must avoid activities that threaten water quality, including:
- vehicle access
- horse riding
- littering
- bringing pets
- fires
- camping
- swimming
- shooting
- fishing
Guests are asked to use resort public toilets before entering the catchment to help protect this vital water source.
Mt Stirling
Mt Stirling does not operate a drinking water supply system due to its pristine alpine environment and limited onsite facilities, which include a café, huts, shelters and staff buildings.
Visitors must bring their own drinking water or purchase water from the café where available.
Page last updated: 04/06/26